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Micro process engineering

Micro process engineering is the science of conducting chemical or physical processes (unit operations)
inside small volumina, typically inside channels with diameters of less
than 1 mm (microchannels) or other structures with sub-millimeter
dimensions. These processes are usually carried out in continuous flow
mode, as opposed to batch production,
allowing a throughput high enough to make micro process engineering a
tool for chemical production. Micro process engineering is therefore not
to be confused with microchemistry, which deals with very small overall
quantities of matter.

The subfield of micro process engineering that deals with chemical reactions, carried out in microstructured reactors or "microreactors", is also known as microreaction technology.

The unique advantages of microstructured reactors or microreactors are enhanced heat transfer due to the large surface area-to-volume ratio, and enhanced mass transfer. For example, the length scale of diffusion processes is comparable to that of microchannels or even shorter, and efficient mixing of reactants
can be achieved during very short times (typically milliseconds). The
good heat transfer properties allow a precise temperature control of
reactions. For example, highly exothermic reactions can be conducted almost isothermally
when the microstructured reactor contains a second set of microchannels
("cooling passage"), fluidically separated from the reaction channels
("reaction passage"), through which a flow of cold fluid with
sufficiently high heat capacity
is maintained. It is also possible to change the temperature of
microstructured reactors very rapidly to intentionally achieve a
non-isothermal behaviour.

Process Intensification

While the dimensions of the individual channels are small, a micro
process engineering device ("microstructured reactor") can contain many
thousands of such channels, and the overall size of a microstructured
reactor can be on the scale of meters. The objective of micro process
engineering is not primarily to miniaturize production plants, but to
increase yields
and selectivities of chemical reactions, thus reducing the cost of
chemical production. This goal can be achieved by either using chemical
reactions that cannot be conducted in larger volumina, or by running
chemical reactions at parameters (temperatures, pressures,
concentrations) that are inaccessible in larger volumina due to safety
constraints. For example, the detonation of the stoichiometric mixture of two volume unit of hydrogen gas and one volume unit of oxygen gas does not propagate in microchannels with a sufficiently small diameter. This property is referred to as the "intrinsic safety"
of microstructured reactors. The improvement of yields and
selectivities by using novel reactions or running reactions at more
extreme parameters is known as "process intensification".

History

Historically, micro process engineering originated around the 1980s,
when mechanical micromachining methods developed for the fabrication of uranium isotope separation nozzles were first applied to the manufacturing of compact heat exchangers at the Karlsruhe (Nuclear) Research Center.

An engineering technologist, is a specialist
devoted to the development and implementation of existing technology
within a field of engineering. Engineering technology education is more
applied than the more theoretical science based engineering degree
education. Technologists often work with engineers in a wide variety of
projects by applying basic engineering principles and technical skills.
It is not unusual for Engineering Technologists to assume senior
management positions in industry or to become entrepreneurs. The work of
technologists is usually focused on the portion of the technological
spectrum closest to product improvement, manufacturing, construction,
and engineering operational functions. Engineering technology deals with
the same topics as engineering, but is more applied knowledge rather
than a purely theoretical knowledge. The mathematics and basic sciences
as well as the technical courses in technology programs are taught with
more applications and less theory than the related engineering courses.
Engineering courses also typically require a higher level of knowledge
of mathematics, natural and engineering sciences and prepare a student
to continue studies and perform research at the graduate levels.
Engineering technology courses generally have labs associated with the
courses that require applied or "hands-on" applications of the topics
being studied.

Volvo Shows Off Self Parking Car

Welcome to the world of wonderful engineering.
Here, engineers are working 24/7 to get you the latest technology and
to make your life easier and safer. Science is the basic tools that
these engineers rely on. It is the advancement in science that is making
these wonders a possibility and making dreams reality. There has been a
lot of hype about automatic cars; Google car being the center of
highlight. The next in line are the self parking cars! Yes, that’s
right. Enough with the self driving cars, let’s focus on self parking
cars. The catch; the technology is still in development phase and we
might not be seeing it anytime before 2015.

In a recent press release, Volvo has promptly stated about their new
concept car which is amazing because of what it can do; park itself on
its own and come out of the parking as well. As per Volvo, the car will
find a vacant space and park itself without a driver and will be able to
interact safely with people and other cars.

The procedure is quite simple; the service is turned on via mobile app
and will be initiated by the driver once he is out of the vehicle, the
smart car will use sensors to locate and navigate itself to a free
parking space. The procedure is reversed when the driver returns to get
his car back. However, this technology is only applicable with parking
lots that are compatible with infrastructure to vehicle technology.

As mentioned earlier, the technology won’t be available soon. Senior
Safety Advisor, Thomas Broberg, at Volvo said; ‘Technologies are still
being developed. However, we will take the first steps towards our
leadership aim by introducing the first features with autonomous
steering in the all-new Volvo XC90, which will be revealed at the end of
2014.’

UK Tests It’s First Passenger Drone – Goodbye Pilots?

Science and its wonders are truly amazing. What was considered
impossible before was made possible by Wright Brothers; such is the way
in which science works. Always evolving and explaining phenomena and
providing us with working models, theories and laws. In today’s age, the
technological advancements are setting new records. From 3D printed fingers to wearable tech;
one may find wonders of science everywhere. Autonomous Systems
Technology Related Airborne Evaluation and Assessment or better known as
Astraea apparently thought unmanned drones were not enough and they
needed to bring something more to the table. What did they do? In a one
liner; they did something remarkably bold and gutsy. Going into details;
they have managed to fly a jet stream aircraft across UK airspace,
which is shared, during the last month. Wait a second, what’s so bold
and gutsy about that? The answer; the particular flight was unmanned!

Only the take-off and landing was performed by an on-board pilot.
Take-off occurred from Warton, near Preston in Lancashire and landing
was executed at Inverness. However, the 500 mile long journey was
controlled by a pilot on ground who was being assisted by National Air
Traffic Services. There were no passengers. However, the airspace in
which this unmanned aircraft flew was shared by passenger carrying
aircrafts. The 16-seater aircraft is known as ‘The Flying Test bed’ and
has been equipped with a series of sensors and robotics to prevent any
hazard from taking place. The unmanned air vehicle (UAV) expert, Andrew
Chapman, from National Air Traffic Service (NATS) said; ‘NATS ensured
that this test flight was held without any impact on the safety of other
users of airspace at the time. Although there is still work to be done,
it would seem that on the basis of the success of this flight, a UAV
could operate in different classes of airspace.’ The flight is not the
first of its kind. Astraea has orchestrated a series of such flights and
has already received £62 million in the form of funding to research how
UAV can be used in shared airspace by UK government and commercial
airlines. A representative from BAE Systems (one of the stakeholder
companies) said; ‘The flights were part of a series of tests helping
flight regulators and NATS to understand how these flights work, and
what they need to do were they to go ahead and put a regulatory
framework in place for the unmanned flights in manned airspace. It’s
still very early days in terms of that regulation taking place.’ Michael
Fallon, Business and Energy Minister, has labeled these flights as
‘Pioneering’ and said; ‘Astraea has made significant achievements,
placing the UK industry in a good position globally on unmanned aircraft
and the development of regulations for their civil use.’

Astraea project director Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal is worried about more
than just technological challenge as he was quoted saying; ‘It’s not
just the technology, we’re trying to think about the social impact of
this and the ethical and legal things associated with it. You’ve got to
solve all this lot, if you’re going to make it happen, enable it to
happen affordably.’

Guys Build $1.6 Million Batman Tumbler Replica

We are living in an age inspired by the cinema and science. All that
which we only saw in animated movies is becoming real thanks to science.
You can see superheroes taking off in flight to fight off crime in
movies and thanks to the technological advancement it all seems as real
as it can get. We all are fans of Christopher Nolan’s Batman; do you
remember the Epic’s EV TORQ; The Roadster straight out of Batman’s movie? Yes,
we covered that too because like most of the readers we too are huge,
die-hard, fans of Batman. Things keep getting better and better for us
fans, believe us! Have you all heard about the Gumball 3000 race?
Traditionally, the race was about unique cars just out there on the road
completing the rally.

However, nowadays it’s more about Ferrari, Lamborghini and expensive
cars like that. Amongst all such expensive cars, the international
racing crew; Team Galag have introduced one of their unique cars for the
Gumball 3000 race set for 2013. What is so surprising about this car?
Well, yes it has something to do with the Christopher Nolan’s Dark
Knight. But this is much more than what you were expecting; this is an
exact replica of ‘does this come in black-tank’ driven by our Dark
Knight on the streets of Gotham. As mentioned earlier, the Gumball race
3000 is not like the traditional racing competitions. There is neither
time record to break nor any prizes to be given to fastest cars. This is
more like a road trip through Europe on flashy and expensive cars. An
exotic trip if you will. The event was inspired by movies such as The
Cannonball Run and The Gumball Rally. The event, traditionally, used to
have both types; the expensive sort and the unique ones. However, it has
somewhat turned into a ‘let’s see who’s the richest one out there’
rally sort. The members of Team Galag wanted to reignite the old spirit
of the rally and therefore commissioned Parker Brothers Concepts, in
Florida, to create a replica of Batman Tumbler which was street legal.
The other than obvious task was to come up with something that would be
able to compete with other cars in the rally during this 3,000 m rally.
An investment of $1.6 million was made for this awesome crime fighting
ride.

Nissan ZEOD – The World’s Fastest Electric Car

We are car fans, as you can already deduce after seeing the number of
articles we have dedicated to cars. They inspire us, aesthetically
speaking and from engineering perspective as well. A lot of effort goes
into coming up with a new car that can compete with the beasts already
on the roads. That is why we always commend companies that are able to
bring something new to the table.

Today, we want to dedicate this writing to Nissan for the wonderful job
they’ve done in creating ZEOD. ZEOD stands for Zero Emissions on Demand
and this supercar from Nissan runs on batteries. The DeltaWing style
construction of this supercar sure does tell that this car was built for
speed and so have the Nissan Engineers gone on record to say that ZEOD
can achieve 186 Mph thus rendering itself the fastest electric car. The
surprise list is still not over folks, Nissan has decided to put their
EV to good use; Le Mans. Yes, you read that right. Nissan’s EV ZEOD will
be taking part in the next year’s Le Mans which is a twenty four hour
race, quite an enduring one, against some of the most powerful and
fastest cars from all around the globe. Oh and those cars are gas
powered.

Ben Bowlby, the guy who designed the DeltaWing race car (initial design)
says; ‘At the end of Le Mans 2014, we will have changed people’s
perceptions of electric vehicles.’ Keeping his past expertise in mind,
we can very well say that Ben knows what he is talking about. However,
let’s just wait and see what happens. Once the next year’s Le Mans is
over we’ll know what ZEOD is really worth.

World’s Most Dangerous Jet Powered Bicycle – Norah

While science and technology are busy in bringing new and innovating
gadgets to the market, there is another line of production at work too;
Do it yourself projects! These are the people who enjoy doing what they
do as their hobby. What we have for you today is yet another story of
such a person who is known for building with tools that an engineer
would laugh at. Meet Colin Furze, a British garage inventor who has a
series of inventions to his name! For his recent invention he says; ‘It
is as Mad as it looks!’ The invention is known by her name; Norah and is
a jet powered bicycle whose safety one can question.

The bicycle has been made just the way it says in its name; a homemade
jet engine has been strapped to an old bike and our inventor has made
the most dangerous bike, perhaps ever made! His list of inventions may
lead one to believe that our crazy inventor here is an engineer who has a
passion for coming up with crazy ideas and executing them, however, you
will be surprised to know that he is a plumber who loves to create such
dangerous DIY in his home workshop. A few of his inventions include;
world’s longest motorbike, gas powered stroller and the fastest mobility
scooter.

Colin Fruze is a living proof that one need not have an expensive
laboratory and tools at one’s disposal to produce something amazing.
Norah can reach speeds of 50 Mph and as anyone can imagine, it is quite
dangerous yet pretty much fun to ride it. The engine exhaust gets
flaming red hot at full throttle rendering this DIY a really ‘hot’
vehicle! Our crazy inventor decided not to use a heat shield and instead
managed to put in some distance between the engine and rider’s butt.
But the heat is going to be least of your worries once you’re on this
bike! From pleasing ride to hard to control ride and finally near death
ride, this experience will definitely leave you amazed and thrilled.